At Home In San Jose

Rubbing shoulders with Arnold

Well, sometimes it pays to show up.  The annual San Jose COMPAC  (Chamber of Commerce Political Action Coalition) barbeque was Thursday evening, on the grounds of the San Jose Historical Museum park.  And guess who popped in for a short visit and a brief but pithy speech about redistricting?  Our governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Guess he was in town for the SVLG (Silicon Valley Leadership Group's annual CEO gathering, and Pat Dando used her well-honed powers of persuasion to scoot the COMPAC event onto his schedule.

Speaking of Pat, she announced that the Chamber has finally inked the contract on their own building right in the hear of downtown.  Bravo!

I ran into Chris Moylan, councilmember from Sunnyvale.  And also had a terrific conversation with Mike Kotowski, candidate for city council in Campbell.  Said hello to Rose Herrera, candidate for San Jose council district 8.  Talked with Sahib Mann and Shanna Boigon, both running for the Open Space District.  Hung out with Quincy Virgilio, who will be President of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors next year.  Caught glimpses of Peter and Denise Carter, Carl Guardino, Mayor Reed, and many more.

The crowd was huge...the biggest in the COMPAC BBQ history.  The hobnobbing was enthusiastic and skilled.  The food was excellent.  The evening became cool and comfortable.  If politics are your thing, this was definitely the place to be.

Politics by the pool

Went to the annual birthday party/fundraiser for Senator Elaine Alquist last evening, at the Holiday Inn on N. First St.  It was a lovely, warm evening by the pool.  The theme was "Bollywood", complete with an Indian buffet and dancers.  Elaine was in fine form, the perfect political mover and hostess, and even joined in the dancing periodically.  I'm sure we'll see her back at the Capitol.

Many politicos and hopefuls in the crowd...Evan Low, Kanzen Chu, Paul Fong, Ash Kolra, Rose Hernandez, Sahib Mann...too many to count! 

Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group made a good pitch for backing the most current effort to bring BART down to our fair city.  With the fuel and energy crisis gaining momentum, it beats me why we haven't all put our collective voting power to work on this earlier.

Get yourself downtown on Thursday evenings for the "Metro Music In The Park" series at 5:30 pm.  Coming up on Aug. 21:  White Album Ensemble.  Beatles redux, anyone?

Mo Music, Mo Life

Two solid weeks of world music - jazz, classical, tango, opera...Vancouver's voice reaches into the heavens!  This has been a wonderful trip, and my only regret is that I missed our own sizzling San Jose Jazz Fest.  A world music festival would be a terrific addition to our own city's experience.  This year's Festival Vancouver focused on The Americas, from Canada down to the tip of South America.  We have such a diversity of cultures in San Jose, we could put on our own World Festival without having to bring in a single outside artist or musician!

I'll be posting a very interesting cross-section of events on this blog soon, a smorgasbord of autumn delights, with my own encouragement to go downtown and tune in.  Stay tuned.

Northern and Southern Lights

Visiting my Dad in Vancouver, BC this week.  The city is filled with tall glass condominium buildings that reach for the sky like perfectly manicured fingers.  At night the lights dazzle on the water that surrounds the city.

Well, we in our city are just beginning our skyscraper stretch!  Our skyline has become so much more interesting, and our night life hums with the beat of music and feet on the pavement.  The light from new windows shines gently, illuminating the night outside and hinting at the many lives behind the shutters.  New life, new aspirations, a newly minted city springing up for all.